Christie: Krauthammer will be happier Thursday

9/30/12 10:23 AM EDT

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie continued to raise expectations on Sunday for Mitt Romney's performance at Wednesday's debates, saying Romney's conservatives critics, including Charles Krauthammer, will be "happier" by Thursday morning.

“I’m not going to sit here and complain about coverage of the campaign because as a candidate if you do that you’re losing. But what I will tell you that this is the first moment when the American people are going to see these two guys side by side laying out their vision unfiltered. I think that’s going to be a powerful moment for Mitt Romney," the Republican governor said on ABC's "This Week." “I think folks like Charles Krauthammer will be happy on Thursday morning, certainly happier than they are now.”

Christie was responding to a column Krauthammer wrote last week, accusing Romney of not going big enough with his campaign message and playing "small ball".

Christie did raise expectations on the president's side, however, saying Barack Obama has "always been good" at debates.

“I think he’s had a few debates inside the White House, over time, and I think he’ll be very good. The president’s always been good, and he’ll be good on Wednesday night. But he can’t change the facts, and that’s going to be the problem for the president.”